Sunday, November 30, 2008

Today I have some fun acrylic pieces that I turned into book marks. They are all made using Krystal Kraft acrylic as the jumping off point. I got mine from Outside the Margins but I'm sure lots of places carry them. These gems are available in a wide range of shapes but today I'm sharing two of my favorites...the mask & torso.

Each of the acrylic pieces were colored using Adirondack Alcohol Inks then embellished further with a variety of embellishments.

Mardi Gras

I turned the torsos into little people by adding a photo to a charm that I attached using E-6000 adhesive. I added word tags as arms and embellished with some awesome fringe for skirts. These are so much fun to make, by varying the colors and embellishments you could make a whole range of little people!

Lady in Black (and purple)-

Lady in Red -

Fun huh?

These are fairly quick, cost about $3.00 - $5.00 each by the time you figure the trim, charms, bodies and book mark. Not too expensive but it could be a lot less especially since you can use bits and pieces of things you may have left over from other projects.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Each day I will be sharing a different altered/crafted goodie that you can make to share with your family and/or friends. Some will be quick and easy while others are a bit more advanced but all of them will be loved by anyone lucky enough to receive them! Of course if you don't celebrate Christmas they are still some fun ideas for any occasion.

So let's kick it off with a shadow box I made for one of my Mom's co-workers. It is a shadow box I filled with real and play baby items. You know those little sets of baby goodies for dolls...they are the perfect size for a 12x12 or 14x14 shadow box!! I also incorporated some of the babies booties and diaper pins. The photo was printed on photo paper then mounted to foam core board to lift if off the background. I actually doubled up the foam core board so the booties and diaper could be tucked under the edge of the photo.

The shadow box frame started life as plain unfinished wood. I prefer working with unfinished wood because I can then add whatever finish I want. For this frame I added a white washed finish by first dabbing white acrylic paint onto the wood then running a damp cloth over the paint working it into the grain as I went. Next I applied a light coat of a baby blue (to match the goodies in the shadow box) and again wiped much of it off with a damp cloth. You can't tell in the photo but it gives such a nice vintage feel to the piece.

The frame was quick and easy, the collage it's self took a bit of time but letting the adhesive dry really well before you mount the collage in the frame took the longest. I am so not good at waiting for things to dry! I want them done NOW ;) If you don't let the glue dry completely and mount it too soon your goodies may fall off if the glue hasn't cured completely. (Trust me on this....you will just have to wait twice as long when you re-attach them - LOL!!!)

So there you have a fun gift for some new parents or even grandparents to kick things off :)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Yep, Ink Stains is officially 1 year old today! Who'd a thunk it ~ I can't believe how much life has changed in only one year... of course I'm a year older, I've posted 500 tid-bits on the blog but there is so much more. I originally started the blog for a few reasons...some very persistent friends kept telling me I should :) Thanks guys!!! But I had also just come off of a very exhaustive month long very restrictive interview/application/whatever you want to call it for an on-line forum position. I was disappointed but almost relived when I found out I didn't get the job because the company was so specific in what they didn't want I believe I would have felt hampered in my creativity. Therefore Ink Stains was born :) YEAH!!!

Just goes to show you that things do happen for a reason even though we don't know it at the time.

There have been lots of other changes over the year that I won't bore you with but I'm very excited about my artistic life...very positive things all around. Now if we could only improve the economy wouldn't life be grand....but alas, I'm not a magician. LOL!!!

Enough of the mush stuff....

The winner of Blog Bash Give-A-Way #7

is......

#4

CABBIE!!!

cabbie lopez said...the wildest thing i made was altering a barbie doll. i cut her hair so short that she aint barbie anymore. i designed her skirt with paper and made her hat with a chipboard swirl. an art doll indeed but surely, the little girls would not want to see her. lol.i also did a spool doll wherein her head is made of metal spool and yarns as her hair... they are on my blogs.thanksNovember 26, 2008 12:03 AM

I wanted to share a project I made recently using Ranger's new Distress Stickles. Now, I'm sure many of you know how much I love mica ~ well when these Distress Stickles dry the little glitter particles look just like mica!! Mmmmmmmm - I just love it!!! I know I mentioned it before but it also has a way cool feel once it's dry as well...it's chunky and feels like sugar particles :) Just another layer of texture to add to your creation!

I used Black Stickles to draw on the segments of the wings/body. Once it was dry, I filled in each of the sections with Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles.

Flowers -

Here are some of the layered flowers I made using multiple flowers from the Nature Grunge Board shapes... You'll notice that the camera doesn't like all that glitter too much...when it's aimed directly at the glitter it freaks out the auto focus.

NOW...

for the give-a-way....

In honor of turkey day tomorrow...tell me what your favorite part of the meal is....

Mine is the Pumpkin Pie & Cool Whip! Yes, that's a pair ~ you can't have one without the other in my book. And honestly if you ask my family in my case it would be Cool Whip & Pumpkin Pie ;) It always has and probably always will be - LOL!!!

If you're not from the US and don't celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow then tell me what your favorite holiday meal is...any holiday...

What will you win??? Well Distress Stickles of course!

I'll choose 3 different colors (it's a surprise silly) to send you ~ wish it could be all of them but I haven't won the lottery or anything - LOL!!!

You have until 11-30 to post your favorite Thanksgiving (or other holiday) meal.

This theme was retro women in ads from the 50's thru the 70's. Now I have to admit this was one of my favorite themes. It was so much fun searching for ads. I found loads of them but when I saw my lady I knew what I was going to do :) You can't tell by the pics but it's actually an interactive page...sort of - LOL!! The main image is mounted over a piece of foam. The entire front of the page is then covered in clear yellow vinyl. You'll understand the rest when you see what the ad was for....something I've never heard of but Mom said she can remember it.

Retro Ads 50's-70's

(Shannon's Theme)

Me - Front

back -

O.k. how many of you remember margarine that you had to squeeze to make yellow? Wild huh???

I wanted to tell you about a great resource for collage and altered art goodies ~ both hard copies and digital supplies. It's called Artella Land. It's a really cool store I've known about for some time. There are several areas you can check out. There is the General Store which offers up Vintage Photos; $1.99 Vintage Bargain Bin (you know how I love a Bargain!!); Assorted Art Supply & Treasures to start with. (for some reason all of my links take you to the main page...I'm not smart enough to figure it out but you can click on the individual areas and see all the neat goodies for yourself.....maybe some day I'll get smarter about this code stuff!)

And there is another great place to hit - The Shoppes of Artella....a place filled with awesome goodness because it is all handmade goodies by a variety of artists!

I just recently became an affiliate of Artella Land . By doing so I can offer you a cool book - one of my favorites from their selection - Altered Ancestors - FREE!!! All you have to do is follow the link below and download it for your viewing pleasure!

Tell me (or show me) what the wildest thing is you've ever altered...if you've never altered anything tell me (or show me) the wildest item you've ever made. It could be a funky card; ATC; a cool sb page; anything!

The wildest thing I've ever altered was a rat trap! Someone dared me so I did! Don't worry ~ it was a brand new one so no nasty stains or anything. I turned it into a Welcome sign and gave it to the person who dared me - LOL!! Simon is her dog - hence the dog collar & embellishments. The MM frame was mounted so she could change out pics as she wanted.

Here it is....

O.k....I fessed up...

Now it's your turn....

You'll have until 11-27 to tell us all about your wildest creations.

At that time I'll draw out one lucky winner to receive Crafty Secrets - Altered Art set of rubber stamps, a couple tinsel embossing powders and Maya Road chipboard wings key chain!

What a wonderful response to the "thankful" question! It's so great to read such positive and uplifting comments when the world is in such turmoil!! I'm so very tickled with it all....so much so that I decided to give away TWO sets of the paints!!! My way of thanking you all for hanging around here :)

The first winner of the Metallic Crackle Paint set is.....

Vannasmom

vannasmom said...Happy early birthday day! I just want to say this is the first time I have visited your blog and I am in totaly love with it!!I also look forward to returning too!!I am thankful for a breath , to see my daughter grow up and I have an amazing wonderful hubby that supprts everything I do !! I am truly blessed!! It has been a while since I could say that!!I have one brick red plain old crackler paint and I love it !! I use it on everything!!thanks for a chance to win :)November 23, 2008 8:43 PM

and the 2nd winner is....

Alice K.

alice k. said...Happy birthday! I am thankful fo having supportive friends, IRL and in the blog land, people who believe in me but also challenge me.Looking forward to another year with your inspirational blog!November 24, 2008 3:08 AM

Congrats ladies!! Please send me your snail mail addies so I can get your paints out in the mail to you :)

I'm a bit behind on my posting winners and such...been a busy time around here. We've been getting ready for winter on our farm and we butcher 2 pigs...yeah I know I know...we grow and raise our own meat ~ sorry to all those veggie people out there. We eat veggies too if it's any consolation - LOL!!

Anyway, I'm a bit sore but back and ready to give some goodies away...

Without further delays,

the winner of either the house, heart or embellishment goodie bag is.....

Crafty Creations!!!

Crafty creations said...Wow they are incredible - what a brilliant idea - I love them bothbut should I win :):):) would prefer the heart one.I think a fab book would be suitcase shaped then it could be filled with all sorts of holiday memorabalia.Another could be candle shaped - weddings/christenings/special birhdays etc etc.Please pick me!!!!! I'm UK based though so maybe that would be a problemThanks for the inspiration anywayhugsNovember 19, 2008 8:28 AM

Friday, November 21, 2008

You know, I've been talking about Ink Stains 1 year birthday for a while now. I *JUST* realized that it falls on Thanksgiving this year!! How totally wild is that....it's one of those "goosebump" moments. You know what I mean...when things have happened or fall into place at just the right time. This must be one of those moments I tell you...

I had planned on having a different drawing each day from now until the 26th with all of drawings being pulled on the 27th ~ Ink Stains B-day. Well, since that is truly a day to be thankful for everything that has happened in the past year and the years to come it couldn't have worked out any better!! (See what I mean about it being wild!!)

So, with that revelation on my mind, I want to start off this b-day week by giving away a set of Metallic Crackle Distress Paints!

What do you have to do to be entered to win?

Tell me what you are thankful for....easy as that!

I'll start it off...now of course I'm thankful for my guys (2 and 4 legged - yes, I'm the only girl in our household!!) and all of the gifts that God has given me but I'm also very thankful for my friends and acquaintances I've made over the past year through the blog. I was so very reluctant to start one because I didn't think there would be interest in what I do...but some friends wouldn't let it rest and an opportunity fell through giving me the time to dedicate to it. Well, THANKS TO YOU I've been proven wrong :) The blog has been a great success!! I enjoy reading everything you have to say and love sharing techniques and my work with you and love talking to you in e-mails. It really does bring me so much joy!!

I know it's been a bit lean here the last month or so but I promise after I get this next deadline under my belt things will improve. I'm starting to get the hang of writing each day and creating on demand (not an easy task I tell you). So I'm hoping to have a bit more time to spend on creating and sharing here.

You will have until 11-27 to post what you are thankful for at that time I'll pull out one lucky winner of a set of the metallic crackle paints!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I found Kristin's site by chance one day while I was crusin' around the net looking for collage goodies. Boy did I ever strike gold here! Kristin specializes in collage sheets and all sorts of items for collage, altered arts and more. It's an awesome place to explore so I contacted her and low and behold she's a Hoosier too!!! Well, right then and there I knew I wanted to share her site with everyone :)

I had a lot of fun admiring Kristin's art so I asked her how long she'd been crafting. Kristen's reply was "I've been arting and crafting since I was a little girl. My first memories growing up include rummaging through my mom's craft room, creating art, and selling it on the corner of our block! Once I sold two pine cones covered with glitter to a man in a limo who said he was on his way to a wedding and was going to give them as gifts! Surely my most memorable sale and I was about 6 years old. I can also recall creating "worry doll" earring and having my mom put an ad in the back of a craft magazine. I only sold one pair, but it was thrilling. It was inevitable that I would have my own site as an adult."

I asked her how Retro Cafe Art go it's start - like so many of us she started with one medium but got sucked in to the black hole of the art world. "I began selling my art on EBay in 2004. Initially, I was selling my retro inspired paintings that often featured coffee cups and "café" style. That is how the name "Retro Café Art Gallery" came about. I soon discovered art cards and was drawn into the world of altered art. When I was younger I often created collages and decoupage items using magazine pictures. I was drawn to the variety in altered art, and the ability to use ephemera and items that some people would consider trash, to give them new life. As my business began to grow, I was determined to have my own space on the web. Retro Café Art Gallery http://www.retrocafeart.com/ went live February 2008 and I have big plans for the future!" Pretty darn cool huh?

A large part of Retro Cafe Art are the collage sheets. Images of all shapes, sizes and themes. I asked Kristin where she comes up with her ideas for her collage sheets. She replied, "Basically, I select images that I might like to use in my own art, while abiding by copyright laws. Hunting down the vintage ephemera and photos is part of the fun!" she also added, "I have a small selection of collage sheets that I sell through a license I purchased a few years ago, but most of the collage sheets I design myself."

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Someone asked me yesterday about the quotes on the pages. That was one of the requirements for each theme. You had to include a quote either from the person you were using for the theme or another quote that highlighted the idea behind your page. It was really fun to see what people came up with.

Lots of great pages for this theme as well....

BOMBSHELLS

Karen - WAY cool snake huh?

back

Linda

Shannon - The black stuff in the corner is similar to garland - Very 3-D in person.

Dixie (Mom)

back

Crystal

Me

Kelly

Nina - LOVE the tag & lacing on this page!

Phinny

back

oops! Andi's was stuck to the back of Kelly's page!

Sorry Andi!!

Andi

In the early stages of the swap some of us ended up choosing the same ladies to use on our pages. It was wild...Phinny and I had the same idea about several themes. Something out of the twilight zone but as you can see the results were all totally different. It's fun to see how different artists take a similar idea and make it their own.

Also, there were no requirements on the backs other than to include your name and the group. Some people got really creative and added additional quotes and photos on the backs. On some I included extra pics, tidbits of historical or totally useless information about my picks. I didn't photograph all of the backs but will be sharing some here and there :)

Teach Yourself Visually - Collage & Altered Arts

About Ink Stains

What constitutes a good day in my book? Ink Stains on my fingers! I want to share that good day feeling with you by offering up a variety of card sketches, altered projects & lay-outs, challenges and goodies to get you all Inked up!
If you've got an idea that you'd like to see or challenge for me to try I'd love to hear from you...till then, Ink On My Friends, Ink On!